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District 3 track and field: Biglerville's Danny Stoner repeats as pole vault champ, but misses record


SHIPPENSBURG >> Danny Stoner's name will live in the District 3 record book forever as a back-to-back pole vault champion, and for a split second it looked like it would also live on as the district record-holder.

The Biglerville senior won the District 3 Class AA championship for the second year in a row Saturday at Shippensburg University, using a first-attempt vault of 14 feet to secure the title. Then he took a shot at 14 feet, seven inches, trying to match a 36-year-old District 3 record, set by Northern Lebanon's Darryl Miller in 1979.

Stoner, his competitors and his coaches knew he could do it, because he's done it before. He vaulted 14-7 just last weekend at the YAIAA championships in Dallastown to break the Canners' 43-year-old school record, set at 14-6 by Dave Gorman in 1972.

After two failed attempts, Stoner appeared to have his record-tying vault. But his hip grazed the bar as he vaulted over, nudging away an opportunity to take a shot at breaking the record.

"I was hoping, I was really hoping," he said of that last attempt. "I didn't have the exact same feeling that I had last weekend at Dallastown, and it just didn't happen. But that's OK. I'll go to states and have another opportunity to go higher there."

He said the prospect of tying or breaking the district record was something that other people talked about more than he really thought about it. He was more focused on qualifying for states, which he did, and winning another district title.

"I had some really good attempts at 14-7, but it just wasn't there today," he said. "At the beginning, we had a big tailwind and when it came down to 14-7, we didn't have it anymore. I can't blame it all on that, but I was close."

Saturday's results from the District 3 track and field championships

Stoner will have another chance to clear 14-7 and try to improve on his personal record next weekend at the PIAA championships, which will also be held at Shippensburg University.